Stepping up international pressure on Russia, leaders of the European Union and the United States have called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence to allow full access to international investigators to the crash site, and demanded the pro-Russian rebels return all the bodies, and the aircraft’s black box.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down on July 17, as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur some 33,000 feet above the rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.
Both Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian rebels accuse one another of shooting the passenger plane down. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members on-board were killed.
So far, remains of up to 196 people have been recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site, and loaded onto refrigerated train wagons in Torez, Ukraine; the train, however, is standing stationary.
Rebel leaders have said that the bodies will remain there till the arrival of a delegation from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
European monitors, who visited the site on July 20, confirmed that some victims may never be found.
There is also a growing indignation over reports of how bodies of victims were looted, dragged and guarded by drunk rebels.
Western leaders have suggested that an early examination of the evidence suggest that a Russian SA-11 missile system – also known as BUK – which had been transferred to the rebels was used to bring down the plane.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said, “there’s [an] enormous amount of evidence that points to the involvement of Russia in providing these systems, training the people on them.” He added that the US had seen a video of a launcher being moved back into Russia after flight MH17 crashed, in an attempt to cover-up evidence
American and European leaders have threated further sanctions against Russia if Putin does not use his influence with the rebels to allow international investigators to have free and full access to the crash site, which many experts say has already been compromised.
Experts say that leaders in Washington are pushing for hard-hitting economic sanctions that target people and companies close to Putin.
While Moscow has denied any wrongdoing, Putin has called for an international investigation of the crash site and said that “Russia will do everything possible to shift the current conflict in the east of Ukraine from today’s current military stage to the state of discussion at the negotiation table.”
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